Summer
Reading List and Beyond
We
have provided a “Summer Reading List” to help your young
scholars sharpen their minds through the summer months when
there is no pressure to be intellectually active.
Let me recommend a proactive
approach to the “Summer Reading List” integrated with the family
activities in which you already engage. The topics to investigate
on this reading list are also topics your scholar will be studying
some time during the next school year. As you investigate organize
your thoughts, report findings, and enjoy an intellectual activity
together. The advantage for your scholar, besides having a great
time studying, will be to experience a topic first hand, one
that will be covered in class.
Curious scholars have refined
observation skills that cause them to wonder about what they
observe and ask questions which lead to further investigation
and research. You can take normally passive activities and turn
them into an activity for curious scholars. A trip to the beach
with a little advanced preparation can be a highly motivating
study of marine life not just collecting shells on the beach
at low tide. The key to success of this kind of activity is
that you explore as a family, through the summer.
Reading is a great and crucial
activity but can be passive. Topic investigations on the other
hand provide motivation to: 1) read with a purpose, 2) develop
language skills and vocabulary, (especially if you journal or
keep a scrapbook of your “investigations”) 3) build worldview
experiences, and 4) form a family bond in the area of the intellect.
The books have been organized
into two categories. One category is “Recreational Reading”;
the other is “Topic Investigations” which is a partial list
of the topics that will be covered in each grade level. Some
of the topics will have some literature associated with them,
others will not.
Bill Seronello
Lower School Principal
Important note: There is no required
number of books to read. We will not require your child to turn
in any reports or scrapbooks (although they are free to share
if they wish). However, when your child is asked “What did you
do this summer?” he or she will have a rich experience to draw
on. When the class studies a topic you and your child studied
together, your child will be able to enrich the conversation
with a new found knowledge and thus shine as a scholar.
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